Yes, it's getting worse: New data shows mass shootings are more frequent
looks into the growing prevalence of mass shootings and the toll they are taking on American society.
Yes, it's getting worse: New data shows mass shootings are more frequent
was produced by , a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system, and reviewed and distributed by Stacker Media.
On Oct. 25, 2023, a gunman opened fire in Lewiston, Maine, ultimately killing 18 people and injuring 13 more at a bowling alley and a nearby bar. He was after a two-day manhunt. Maine, which has one of the lowest homicide rates in the nation, remains in shock.
If it feels like U.S. mass shootings have become more frequent, that intuition remains correct, according to data analysis by .
Under even one of the most conservative definitions of "mass shootings," in which a gunman slaughters four or more strangers in a public place, the number of these crimes has indeed been climbing in the last few years — and they have higher death tolls, as well.
Mass shootings account for just a fraction of the daily toll of firearm deaths in the U.S., where every day in acts of gun violence in 2022.
Our analysis is based on data through 2022 from The Violence Project, a nonprofit research group that uses a narrow definition of mass shootings adopted from the Congressional Research Service, which advises federal lawmakers.
Mass shootings have been on the rise steadily for the past 40 years
Thirty-three of these massacres occurred from 2018 through 2022, compared with 25 from 2013 through 2017, according to The Violence Project data. We compared five-year periods, rather than annual data, so we could more clearly see trends over time. A focus on yearly data would be skewed by 2020, when there were two mass shooting incidents, which researchers attribute to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Still, the latest five-year period saw more attacks than any other comparable timespan dating back to 1966 — an average of about 6.6 mass shootings per year since 2018.
The Violence Project as single incidents in which four or more people are killed (not including the shooter), in public locations, such as schools, stores, or workplaces. It excludes murders that occur as a result of other crimes, such as domestic violence, robbery and gang violence.
At least seven mass shootings so far in 2023 fit this definition:
- , California: 11 dead, 9 injured.
- , California: 7 dead, 1 injured.
- , Tennessee: 6 dead.
- , Kentucky: 5 dead, 8 injured.
- , Texas: 8 dead, 7 injured.
- , Pennsylvania: 5 dead, 2 injured.
- , Maine: 18 dead, 13 injured.
This means 2023 is on par with the number of mass shootings in recent years. The Violence Project counted eight mass shootings in 2021, and seven in 2022.
While shooting incidents show a gradual upward trend, the number of those killed is rising at an alarming rate
As mass shootings in the U.S. reached a record high, so did the number of deaths and injuries. From 2018 to 2022, perpetrators killed 257 people — close to the 266 fatalities in the five-year period that ended in 2017, and significantly more than any previous period.
The rise in deaths and injuries from 2013 through 2017 was mostly due to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. At a Las Vegas music festival in 2017, a gunman with multiple assault weapons killed at least 60 people. Over 850 people were injured, including scores hurt in a stampede, according to The Violence Project.
Injuries have likewise risen significantly; one contributing factor: assault weapons
Our analysis shows that in the past five years, assault-style weapons have been used in half of mass shootings. Prior to 2013, they were used in one-third or fewer of all mass shootings.
There is no national, legal definition of a "mass shooting." Several organizations track this form of gun violence, but use different yardsticks.
In 2024, The Marshall Project will update the charts included in this article with full data from 2023. For more on mass shootings and how they are defined, is available.
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For 17 years, Sean Hodgson was best friends with the man who would commit Maine's deadliest mass shooting. Hodgson and Robert Card were both Army reservists. Hodgson watched Card unravel, becoming increasingly angry and paranoid.
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Families of the Uvalde mass shooting victims have renewed calls for law enforcement officers to face criminal charges after a scathing Justice Department report laid bare numerous police failures.
Maine law enforcement has been under scrutiny after they were warned before the tragedy that gunman Robert Card was deteriorating and might “snap and do a mass shooting.”
Her teenage son was texting her about apparent hallucinations months before killing four students.
A Michigan jury convicted a school shooter's mother of involuntary manslaughter Tuesday in the killings of four students in 2021, making her the first parent in the U.S. to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school attack.
Minutes after Kansas City Chiefs players vowed to go for a third-straight Super Bowl title, there was a shooting following the speeches that ended a victory parade. Ambulances rushed to the scene, and officers rushed to the scene with guns drawn.
Evidence of traumatic brain injury in shooter who killed 18 in deadliest shooting in Maine's history
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Spurred by mass shootings, thousands of school districts have hired companies to produce detailed digital maps that can help police, firefighters and medical professionals respond more quickly in emergencies.
The father of a Michigan school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, the second conviction against Ethan Crumbley’s parents in the deadly attack.
Nearly a year after a shooting at a Christian elementary school in Nashville that left three adults and three children dead, the students and their families have formed tight bonds out of their shared suffering.
In the quarter-century since two gunmen shot and killed 12 students and a teacher in suburban Denver, the traumas of that day have continued to shadow those who were there.
States are taking very different approaches to public safety following high-profile shootings, some expanding gun rights and some restricting them. “We live in two different Americas, in essence,” one scholar says.
A vigil set up by advocates including gun safety organizations was the main public event marking Saturday's anniversary.
The NRA kicked off its annual meeting Friday in downtown Dallas, gathering for the first time in decades without Wayne LaPierre at the helm.
Victims' relatives led tours of the building to demonstrate how improved safety measures could have saved lives.
Second gentleman Douglas Emhoff and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro were among the dignitaries marking the groundbreaking of a new structure replacing the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 worshippers were murdered in 2018 .
A suspect is in custody after five people were fatally shot and a teen critically injured in North Las Vegas, police say.
Communities across the U.S. have grappled with what should happen to the sites of mass shootings.A small Texas church where a gunman killed 26 is among them.
The shooting suspect later died after fleeing the home and leading police on a vehicle pursuit.
The July 4 shooting at Yellowstone, where violent crime is rare, is the 120th officer-involved shooting in National Park Service history in more than 100 years.
Security staffers called 911 because of “a suspicion of possible shooter event as (David) McGee’s room was at a higher elevation overlooking the Las Vegas Strip corridor,” the report said.
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